Bike taxi services are in the news again for the wrong reasons as a bike driver allegedly sexually harassed a woman passenger during a trip and texted her inappropriate messages later.
The victim raised a complaint on social media tagging the city police and Rapido, based on which the Electronics City police tracked down 23-year-old K. Shivappa Hasan from Haveri, who was working as a construction labourer in S.R. Nagar, and arrested him.
The accused told the police that he had taken the bike to help his friend who was the actual bike taxi rider and was on leave. The police are waiting for the victim’s statement based on which legal action will be initiated against the accused.
The victim said that she booked a Rapido bike to go home after attending a protest against the Manipur violence from Town Hall . She was taken aback when the driver arrived on a different bike than the one mentioned on the app. He explained that his registered vehicle was given for servicing. Convinced with the reply, she proceeded with the ride after checking the driver’s app to confirm the booking.
The victim alleged that the driver started riding with one hand and engaging in inappropriate behaviour. “Fearing for my safety, I remained silent throughout the ordeal,” she wrote in her complaint on social media.
She paid for the bike taxi online and asked the driver to drop her off about 200 metres away from her house so as not to give away her address, but her ordeal did not end there. “Once the ride was over, he started relentlessly calling and messaging me on WhatsApp. I had to block his number to stop the harassment,” she said.
The victim demanded Rapido to conduct background checks of the drivers before hiring them.
This follows a similar incident in April when a woman who had booked a bike taxi jumped off and sustained injuries to avoid sexual advances of the driver in Yelahanka New Town.
